A Word or Two
by Maaya
Summary: Meeting and parting, the road they have taken. A Mushishi and a wanderer.


Rurouni Kenshin/Mushishi crossover. Oneshot. Gen. PG just to be sure. Weird and random. Perhaps a bit of crack—most crossovers are tinted with it, I think. Or is it just mine? Hm.

**A Word or Two  
by Maaya**

----

The stranger had asked an odd question.

"Mushi?" Soujiro searched in his memory, a finger going up to touch his lip. He didn't think anyone had ever mentioned the word to him before; his mind offered nothing but blank, indifference. "No," he could state after a while, smiling apologetically. "What is it?"

The stranger looked him over with his one green eye, the other covered by his white bangs; his face was rather expressionless, Soujiro thought. Soujiro was used to people reacting _somehow_ to his smile, but this man didn't appear to be bothered at all. He seemed a bit strange. But then, Soujiro assumed one could say the same about him. He looked at his cup of tea a moment before bringing it up to sip.

It was the last restaurant before he had to walk over the mountain so Soujiro didn't feel bad about using his last coins to pay for tea and the cheapest, plain soba noodles. The restaurant owner hadn't known how far it was to the next village so it might be quite a distance. He wondered idly if his sandals would survive the trip; they were already worn enough. Walking barefoot didn't sound very appealing. Perhaps there was someone in this village willing to sell a pair to him.

Then there was this man, also a traveller judging from all appearances. (The backpack, worn clothes as well as lack of toppings on his dish of choice. A wanderer recognized a wanderer. For natural reasons, their kind was very rarely wasteful.)

"You can't see them," the stranger said after a while. To Soujiro, it felt as if the man was talking to himself, so he didn't bother coming up with a reply. There wasn't much to say either way.

Soujiro sipped again, and watched as the stranger pulled out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one.

"You said you were wandering." The man looked straight ahead, just past Soujiro's head. "We are probably heading in the same direction. Would you like to come with me for a while?"

----

"What is that, Ginko-san?" Soujiro watched as his travelling companion picked out a tiny bottle made of clay from his backpack. They had settled for the evening, a fire beginning to crackle before them. Soujiro couldn't help but think of it as strange to have someone to talk to now; it was almost like his privacy was invaded and his routines shook out of place. Not entirely unpleasant, however.

He looked on with slight interest as Ginko uncorked the bottle and smelled on its contents. Then Soujiro blinked when it was suddenly pushed under his own nose.

"It's a brew," Ginko replied as Soujiro took it from his hand. "Drink it."

One of Soujiro's cheeks twitched just a little with disgust. It didn't smell very good. But the stench didn't remind him of any of the poisons he had learnt to recognize, and on top of that it would be impolite to refuse, so he dared to take a sip. He suppressed a shiver. It was chilly, and the cold feeling spread from his throat and stomach out to his extremities.

Still. If it was poison it was already too late, he supposed, and swallowed the rest.

"It is good for expelling Mushi." Ginko accepted the empty bottle back. "You seem to attract them. They are all around you."

Soujiro tilted his head. "Around me...?" He didn't think he had ever experienced anything odd, like the people in the stories Ginko had told him about during the day. Well, his life had been odd throughout, he thought, though odd was not really the best expression to use. Despite that, he did know he had never been involved with 'Mushi', like this Ginko person was talking about. Soujiro thought he would have noticed something like that. Of course, it was Ginko who was the expert, not Soujiro.

"They aren't affecting you," Ginko said before he had time to open his mouth to ask. "You can't even see them. But even if you are resistant, it could bring trouble to people around you."

Soujiro didn't say that he rarely had many people around for longer periods of time nowadays. He just shrugged, and leaned back against a trunk as he rubbed his lower arms and made sure his shirt sleeves were buttoned at the wrists. Whatever had been in the bottle, it made him feel shivery still. The fire was warming him up, but it felt like being thawed out after having walked in snow for a long time. Needles were stinging in his hands and toes.

"It's good that you are travelling." Ginko watched him, deadpan. "It will keep them from attaching to things around you. That would bring trouble."

"Oh." Soujiro didn't know what to think of that. He wondered if this meant he was forever condemned to travel. (As a follow up came the question if he had ever meant to settle.)

----

"Um." Soujiro stared at the variety of herbs that his comrade had collected. "Ginko-san?"

"Mm?" The other man looked up.

Soujiro thought for a moment, wondering if it would be rude to say this. He scratched his head. "I don't think I will ever remember how to make this brew." He shrugged and nodded at the herbs. "I'm not good at cooking overall, and I don't think I have ever seen most of these plants before."

The pokerfaced look Ginko gave him made Soujiro chuckle. Partially because it did look funny, partially because he thought he ought to be embarrassed. If Soujiro read Ginko's single visible eye correctly, they said something along the lines of, mildly, _I'm dealing with an idiot._ It was almost irritating. Soujiro didn't like feeling inferior. He kept a grin on his face.

"Fine," Ginko said finally and continued to prepare the herbs. "The ones I have gathered should be enough for a while. I'll write instructions how you should mix them. Just purchase a bowl to use."

Soujiro blinked and rubbed his neck, the pang of annoyance fading. "Thank you."

----

"Take a few spoonfuls every day," Ginko instructed him. "Find me again when you run out of herbs."

Soujiro nodded dutifully and accepted the light package. It was wrapped in several layers of thin papers and tied with a rough, ordinary string. It felt strange, somehow, but Soujiro couldn't figure out what. Like something was expected out of him. Perhaps it was only Soujiro himself who thought so. Ginko looked unbothered, calm as always.

"Well then." Ginko looked at the road, splitting into two. One led down to a valley, the other towards the mountain. "I'm going. See you later."

Soujiro hesitated a moment. He didn't know what to say, but something kept nagging in his mind. "Ginko-san?"

Ginko stopped, and looked back. "What?"

The uncertainty hopefully didn't show in his face. He didn't want to lose his touch. "Why?"

There was that look again, deadpan. Soujiro stared back until Ginko shrugged and searched in his pockets for his cigarettes. "Well, I don't know. But," he shrugged again and almost startled Soujiro by smiling. A faint tilt upwards at the corners of his mouth to show amusement of some sort, it was a sort of smile that could mean many, many things. "But like I said, like you, I attract Mushi. I can't stay still for long."

Travelling, then. Soujiro could sympathize with that. He smiled. "I'll meet you again, Ginko-san."

"Yes." The man held one hand up in a wave and continued on his way.

Soujiro looked at him for a few seconds, and then started walking up the other road. He wanted to get over this mountain before nightfall.

----

**end**


End file.
